This disc is a gem, yet it's also one of those releases that you might overlook in the deluge of new, and frequently marginal, titles each month. But that would be a mistake, and if you enjoy keyboard music of the classical period, from C.P.E. Bach to Mozart and Haydn, then you will certainly want to hear this recital. Joseph Martin Kraus (a.k.a. "the Swedish Mozart), like his illustrious colleague, had an almost exactly contemporaneous and equally short life. He was born in 1756 and died in 1792. His music was much admired by his contemporaries, including Haydn, both for its formal mastery and progressive tendencies, both of which are very much in evidence in the two major works here, the Piano Sonatas in E major and E-flat major.
Composed in the late 1780s, these sonatas are large-scale pieces as advanced as anything that Haydn and Mozart were turning out at the time. The E major work lasts nearly half an hour, and in its size alone it anticipates the large early sonatas of Beethoven. Both pieces have three movements, one of which is a big theme and variations (the finale in the E major sonata, the middle movement in the E-flat piece). Ronald Brautigam plays this music with uncommon ebullience and enthusiasm, in particular characterizing these lengthy variation sets with unfailing intelligence and imagination. This, combined with the bright, sweet timbre of his fortepiano, gives the music the same immediate appeal that typifies his Haydn piano music cycle.
The other pieces are less important but nevertheless exude charm and personality. Both the Rondo in F major and the Scherzo con Variazioni are relatively substantial single movements, and the Swedish Dance will pique the interest of folk-music enthusiasts--its principal tune sounds remarkably like a sort of simplified Haydn rondo. The other two pieces, Zwey Neue Kuriose Menuetten and the Larghetto, are both tiny chips from the master's workbench. This is one of the most purely delightful discs of classical keyboard music to come along in quite a while, a discovery whose musical substance far exceeds its curiosity value. [7/26/2006] --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
Roman: The 12 Keyboard Sonatas, Nos 8-12 / Paradiso
BIS
SACD
$10.99$21.99Save 50%Jan 08, 2016
Before coming to Sweden, the Italian-born harpsichordist Anna Paradiso knew little about Johan Helmich Roman, often called 'the father of Swedish music'. Here she soon realized that if Roman's music was Swedish, it was also Italian – and specifically Neapolitan: the restlessness of the harmonic idiom, the continuous melodic shifts and the theatrical character. Considering the distance between Stockholm and Naples, this might seem farfetched, but we know that Roman encountered a number of Italian musicians while studying in London 1716-1721, and when in the 1730s he was able take a two-year sabbatical from his post as Kapellmeister at the Royal Court, his goal was Ischia near Naples. Roman's collection of Twelve Keyboard Sonatas was preserved in a manuscript assembled around 1748, but had most likely been composed in the course of the two decades before that. (One movement in Sonata III is labelled 'a Napoli', placing it in the autumn of 1736.) Consisting of between three and seven movements, the pieces have been referred to both as ‘suites’ and ‘sonatas’. Whatever the label, the collection is a fascinating testimony of a period of great stylistic diversity and change, as observed by a composer who, although geographically relegated to the outskirts of Europe, remained wide-open to new developments. In these recordings, Anna Paradiso emphasizes this aspect, performing the sonatas on three different instruments – a French and an Italian harpsichord and a copy of a Swedish clavichord from 1742 – with well-judged ornamentations and use of rubato. A previous release, with the first seven sonatas of the set, was described as ‘exceptional’, by the reviewer on allmusic.com, who went on to hope that ‘the remaining sonatas will be released in short order by Paradiso and BIS.’ That hope is here fulfilled, with the addition of an earlier keyboard sonata by Roman, as well as one by his Swedish contemporary Johan Agrell.
Then - Renaissance Airs And Dances / Stockholm Chamber Brass
BIS
SACD
$21.99Dec 01, 2012
"The Stockholm Chamber Brass here presents a well-played program of Renaissance music arranged for modern brass, with the pluses and caveats that implies. The music’s fantastic and very well-selected: Susato, Dowland, Monteverdi, Gesualdo. The program itself smartly combines these, moving from lively dances and martial airs to arias and slow works of great beauty. Many tracks add percussion to the mix. The Monteverdi ‘moresca’ (track 25) is irresistible. The brass ensemble plays marvelously throughout, especially in slower, more introspective selections. Only the very first track, ‘La Spagna’, features a trombone solo that I think sounds hurried. Thoughtfully, one trumpet is on the far left and the other on the far right, and even more thoughtfully, the booklet tells you who’s who.
This is a highly polished modern brass quintet playing Renaissance arrangements with solemn precision and occasional dancing exuberance. The recorded sound’s terrific and the project is well-documented."
The songs of Alice Tegner and Gustaf Nordqvist have been sung and loved by generations of Swedish people, particularly children. Tegner’s songs for children were published into a series which made its way into many schools and homes across Sweden. A lesser-known genre of the two composers is focused on in this new release: music for mixed choir. Both composers held important choral positions, Tegner composing for and leading a chapel choir, and Nordqvist enjoying a respected position in the capitol. Danderyds Vokalensemble was founded in 2008 with the purpose of attracting some of the best singers, and performing music from all eras. The ensemble has recorded several major works, ranging from early Renaissance music to contemporary composers.
Chin, Kapustin, Lyapunov & Szymanowski: Piano Etudes
BIS
SACD
$21.99Feb 10, 2015
Pianist Clare Hammond’s Etude opens with three studies from Sergei Lyapunov’s 12 Études d’exécution transcendante; modeled directly on Liszt’s set, they epitomize the drama and passion of late Romanticism fused with a distinctly Russian color. Szymanowski’s 12 Studies suggest affinities with Debussy’s études. Nikolai Kapustin’s Five Études in Different Intervals fuse formal classical structures with jazz idioms. Unsuk Chin’s six Études are natural successors to those by Ligeti, with whom Chin studied, and reflect her fascination with virtuosity and playfulness.
Brett Dean: Water Music; Pastoral Symphony, etc. / Bezaly, HK Gruber, Swedish CO
BIS
CD
$21.99Jul 01, 2009
Excellent performances and superb recording of some of Dean’s most endearing works.
Several recent records released by ABC Classics and BIS have given Brett Dean’s music the wider exposure that it undoubtedly deserves. The works on this brand new disc tend to confirm Dean’s status as a highly personal composer. He emerges as a composer whose music tackles contemporary issues in purely musical terms rather than in the bluntly polemical ones that one might have expected. For example, Pastoral Symphony and Water Music deal with contemporary concerns such as deforestation and man’s repeated damage to Nature in PastoralSymphony and the global problem of water supply and lack of it in Water Music. Other works such as Carlo and Testament draw on extra-musical preoccupations such as madness and despair. Other still such as Game Over and Vexations and Devotions reflect on certain debilitating effects of our present-day “civilisation” such as the banality of modern TV and its game and reality shows or of the use of often abstruse jargon alienating the power of speech.
Pastoral Symphony for ensemble and tape was composed after the composer’s return to Australia. “This piece is about glorious birdsong, the threat that it faces, the loss, and the soulless noise that we’re left with when they’re all gone” (Brett Dean). The work opens with a dawn chorus on tape to which the oboe adds its harmonic overtones to create an intense, atmospheric but by no means idyllic landscape. This uneasy, foreboding feeling prevails for a while. The music then seems to open-up but becomes more agitated and restless till it reaches a climax when the insistent sounds of a logger’s axe are heard. After the trees fall birds scatter and the music launches into an aggressive, mechanical section leading into the barren and desolate coda.
The Siduri Dances for flute and strings - the most recent work here and the only one that does not use sampler or pre-recorded material - draws on a piece for flute: Demons composed for Sharon Bezaly. The composer points that Siduri is a wise female divinity from the Epic of Gilgamesh, who dwells by the sea at the ends of the earth and offers sage advice to those travelling to other realms. After a short, mysterious introduction the music becomes livelier and dance-like while pausing for some calmer episodes. It progressively calms down and slowly makes its way back towards its mysterious close. This is a lovely work that should find a permanent place in any flautist’s repertoire. Sharon Bezaly’s playing and musicality is a real joy from first to last.
Water Music for saxophone quartet and chamber orchestra is a more serious affair. It is in three movements with titles that clearly trace the music’s narration: Bubbling (the sound of water), Coursing (the image of rushing water) and Parched Earth (the absence of water). Dean displays his full compositional array. He does this in a most imaginative way to suggest his various visions while avoiding any all-too-crude pictorial effects. The sonic register of the saxophone quartet - that the composer considers as a “super-instrument” - is remarkably imaginative throughout. The composer also uses more advanced techniques such as multiphonics, key clicks and the like, but never extravagantly. Sampled material is also used in the outer movements but is conspicuously absent from the central Scherzo. The first movement is appropriately capricious whereas the second is an energetic Scherzo in which the propulsive character of the music rarely flags. Room is left for a slow chorale after which the music resumes its course and rushes towards an animated conclusion capped by a brief, dark coda. The final movement paints a bleak and desolate landscape.
Carlo is the earliest and the most complex work in this ear-opening selection. It draws on Gesualdo’s life and work as well as on Dean’s admiration of his music. It is scored for strings, sampler and tape. Meurig Bowen’s excellent notes go into considerable detail about the complex fabric of the music. It would be idle for me to try of sum them up or (worse!) to repeat them, the more so in that I am not particularly well-versed in Gesualdo’s music. Carlo opens with music by Gesualdo heard on tape/CD. This is soon confronted with Dean’s own reaction to the music. This then proceeds wave-like through a series of contrasted episodes until it reaches its horror-stricken climax - Gesualdo stabbing his wife and her lover? There follows a lengthy coda based on Gesualdo’s second Responsory for Maundy Thursday ending with an unresolved crescendo. To be quite frank I admit being somewhat prejudiced about this piece before listening to it. However, repeated hearings have convinced me that this is by far the most impressive work in this generous selection of Dean’s honest and thought-provoking music.
Performances and recording are first rate from start to end, and Bowen’s detailed and well-informed notes considerably add to one’s appreciation of these often gripping works.
The myth of the modern tenor was born at an 1837 Paris performance of Rossini’s William Tell when Gilbert Duprez first sang a top C in the chest register. The hitherto unknown expressive power provoked a massive audience reaction, and the tenor voice soon became a trademark of the young, valiant hero. Yinjia Gong grew up in Guizhou province, China, developing an interest in music early on. While studying Chinese traditional music he became fascinated with Western opera. In 2008 his admiration for Jussi Björling and Nicolai Gedda took him to Sweden. There Gong's impressive top register soon attracted attention, and in 2011 he was invited to perform at a gala concert at the Royal Swedish Opera, commemorating the centennial of Björling's birth. Gong was given the honour of performing Puccini’s Nessun dorma – one of Björling’s ‘greatest hits’. Naturally, Nessun dorma is also part of the program on Gong's début recording, along with a series of other jewels of the tenor repertoire.
Ronald Brautigam's performance on the previous volume in this series was described in the International Record Review as 'remarkably full-blooded and forceful playing, pushing the instrument to its limits yet always securing a rich and well-rounded tone'. With the present disc, consisting of sonatas from Beethoven's middle period, Brautigam continues his survey of Beethoven's piano music on a new instrument, a copy of a Graf 1819 fortepiano, which corresponds to the greater demands in terms of power and dynamics made by works such as the Waldstein and the Appassionata. Beethoven's middle period began shortly after a personal crisis brought on by the composer's encroaching deafness, and during it he began to push the borders between free expression and strict form to an even greater extent than previously. In their glowing reviews of previous volumes, many critics have commented precisely on Ronald Brautigam's ability to bring out the radical aspects of the works. According to the reviewer in The Times, 'Beethoven the revolutionary comes closer than ever in Brautigam's fiery interpretations', and his colleague in Süddeutsche Zeitung agreed: 'One has almost the impression of being a contemporary of Beethoven's: one of the first, infinitely startled - not to say shocked - witnesses to this music.'
